North Penn Baptist Church recently celebrated its 120th anniversary, and its humble beginning remains the foundation for supporting the community in many forms. The congregation, many of whom were dressed in red and gold, bestowed special honors on longstanding members. The Dec. 7 ceremony also featured a message by a guest pastor and a fellowship dinner.

“I feel humbled and at the same time blessed and at the same time challenged because we know where we’ve been [and] we know where we are,” said Senior Pastor Warren Marshall. “[And] that is a guide where we need to go.” According to the church’s history, North Penn began as a Sunday school in the home of Sarah Reynolds in 1894.

​It was organized by the First African Baptist Church of Philadelphia under the pastorate of the Rev. Theodore Doughty Miller on Dec. 12, 1895. Throughout its history, the church has focused on uplifting the Black community, and Marshall said that would continue to be a part of its mission. Under the leadership of the late Rev. Dr. John H. Dwelle, a group of North Penn members organized the Dunbar Savings and Loan Association, which supported Black families, churches and businesses in the early 1900s.

In the 1950s, the late Rev. Risden Pierre DeBerry began missionary projects in Haiti and Africa and later established a Police Athletic League chapter at the church, 2419 N. 27th St. Under the leadership of Marshall, the church last year established the North Penn Community Action Council, an organization that commits the church to the happenings in the neighborhood. “Twenty-second Street to 29th Street [and] from Lehigh Avenue over to Dauphin Street is our immediate outreach area,” he said. “There have been community organizations — now to doomsday — addressing these problems without a great deal of permanent success. “The only thing that is going to create permanent success is if we face these challenges putting on the whole armor of God, so that we bring a spiritual presence to bear,” the senior pastor added. Marshall said through the council, the church has been especially successful in advocating for proper development of the North Philadelphia neighborhood in the 19132 ZIP code, which is one of the city’s 10 poorest areas.

“One of the things we have been flooded with in the last five to seven years is neighborhood stores. There’s nothing wrong with neighborhood stores, except a number of these have been nothing but fronts for drug trafficking,” he said in alleging the nefarious intent of some. “Right now, we have been very successful — utilizing and exercising control [that] we have as a registered community organization — to make sure unwholesome businesses do not come into the community. We have had five different hearings on companies, and we’ve been successful in denying access to the community by those organizations — four out of five times thus far,” Marshall noted.

“Those have been primarily halfway houses and neighborhood stores. We are not against halfway houses but there is more than in this community where they can be,” he added. In addition to the council, North Penn helps youth academically through its after-school program and provides a spiritual component in the PAL program. Marshall said plans called for eventually providing evening meals to youth. Aside from its community commitments, the North Penn congregation also sees the church as an important element in their lives.

Ruth Willis, 93, a member for more than 50 years, said one of her most memorable moments was a mission trip to Haiti. “The people needed our help,” she said, noting how well the missionaries worked together.

Aliyah Jones, 11, a longtime member, described North Penn as a “unique” church. “Our pastor is unique, he knows what he is doing,” she said. “Some pastors don’t know what they are doing. He helps with the usher board and the trustee board.” Jones also named several activities the church has for youth including a Sunday school, choir and ushering team. She said she liked ushering “because it’s fun seeing all the looks on people’s faces.” Bake and Christmas tree sales are among the other activities. “It’s fun and you learn how to be kind to people instead of treating people with disrespect,” Jones said .

Edward Wells, a congregant for 65 years, said North Penn was where he started his livelihood. “I got my start in graphic design here when I was asked to create the souvenir centennial journal,” he said. “From that I launched a graphic design business and as a result I began to do work for local churches and for funeral homes.” Wells added that he had “learned everything I learned about Christianity here. Most important lesson I’ve learned here is faith in God. If you have faith in God, you can move mountains.”

Marshall said his vision for North Penn was continuing to serve people and bring them into the flock as Christ would. “We need to go fishing out in the community because that is where the unsaved are,” he said. “We can have all of the marketing imagery and have all these fancy outreach materials but if Jesus is not the base and he is not the focus that represents the foundation upon which we do what we do, it will be for naught.”

The ReverendWarren H. Marshall, Jr., Pastor

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